Water Online Highlights
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Fort Lauderdale’s Major Sewer Problems Have No Fix In Sight
2/28/2020
Of the many persistent obstacles faced by wastewater treatment utilities, outdated infrastructure might be the most disruptive. And few places feel this disruption as acutely these days as Fort Lauderdale.
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Green Infrastructure: Gateway Into Sustainability For Cities
2/27/2020
Cities across the nation face severe challenges that pose a risk to the health of communities and their rivers. Unlike natural environments, the vast quantity of asphalt surfaces found in urban areas prevents rainfall from infiltrating into the ground. Creating green spaces within a city landscape allows rain easy access into the ground, decreasing the amount of stormwater runoff that enters our water sources.
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Informed Comments On EPA’s Proposed Lead And Copper Rule (LCR) Revisions
2/26/2020
I was Director of the Drinking Water Standards Division in 1989 when the original LCR was proposed. The proposal misses the point; the goal should be to contribute to reductions of remaining lead sources, and provide improvements to make the LCR more focused, effective, implementable, and enforced, rather than more complex and costly.
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Digital CX: How Utilities Can Exceed Customer Expectations
2/26/2020
Most people don’t expect a good digital customer experience from their utility providers. While leading retailers, insurers, and banks have all put serious resources into digital customer experience (CX) and reaped the rewards, utilities have been slower off the mark.
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Will Mark Ruffalo Become The PFAS Erin Brockovich?
2/25/2020
In the fight against drinking water contamination, water systems and consumers can often use all the help they can get. As communities in North Carolina wrestle with elevated levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), so-called “forever chemicals” found in water across the country and linked to devastating health effects, that has come in the form of some star power.
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U.S. Military Bases With Cancer-Linked Contaminated Water Are Undercounted Online
2/25/2020
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of an estimated 5,000 man-made fluorinated chemicals that have been used, since the 1940s, in the manufacturing processes of various consumer products and industries. PFAS are widely used, especially because of their oil and water repellency and temperature and chemical resistance.
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Mine Waste Dams Threaten The Environment, Even When They Don't Fail
2/25/2020
Scars from large mining operations are permanently etched across the landscapes of the world. The environmental damage and human health hazards that these activities create may be both severe and irreversible.
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How To Utilize Electrocoagulation For Efficient Phosphorus Removal In Wastewater
2/24/2020
In this article, we will discuss what phosphorus is, the effects of elevated phosphorus levels on an ecosystem, and how innovative electrocoagulation technology can be sustainably used for effective phosphorus removal in wastewater and water sources.
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The Rise Of Digital Twins And Decision Intelligence In Water Utilities
2/21/2020
Decision support systems at water utilities are evolving with new technology and machine learning. An interview with Luis Montestruque, VP of Digital Solutions at Xylem, reveals how digital twins and decision intelligence are helping utilities better understand their infrastructure so they can make smarter decisions.
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Water Industry Responds To Proposed LCR Revisions
2/21/2020
With more than 50,000 community water systems (CWS) in the U.S., it is amazing that only 285 individuals had logged public comments on the U.S. EPA’s proposed Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) Revisions by the February 12, 2020 deadline. Yet, what those respondents had to say could have a big impact on how we deal with lead in drinking water moving forward. Here is a cross-section of the industry’s response.